Hi, I'm Lori! This channel is all about my pollinator gardens in zone 5 in upstate New York. I am not a professional gardener, but flowers and pollinators are my passion and I want to share all my successes and fails. Follow along as I show you my garden beds, native plants and habitat ideas for pollinators and just general garden sharing.
I would love to have you join the channel and share your gardening as well!
Tags: pollinator garden, gardening, zone 5 garden, save the bees, flower gardens, butterfly garden, native plants
I’m gonna be real honest. I’m pretty sure this is not Mullen. I mean, I know for a fact, this is not common Mullen. I’m open to learn if it’s another variety of mullein though.
I have never seen a watering station for bees and butterflies done like this. I’ve had a mud puddle in my yard for butterflies and am planning a wildlife pond now. I especially like having the puddle elevated so that I can watch it at a distance. I have found that it will be necessary to provide different water features throughout my yard because some of the insects I want to attract, like dragonflies, butterflies and bees will be come prey to other animals. By having separate places for feeding and breeding, I hope to protect some of them while providing habitat for frogs, toads, turtles, fish and snakes. Now I need to find videos that show me how to do it. 😊 Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Providing habitat for all of them is a challenge! Of course, it's all part of the circle of life. As much as we want all the pollinators to live, the caterpillars and larvae are so important for their predators to survive as well. It's a tough choice.
Very interesting facts! I just purchased a Boneset plant for myself today and one for my Daddy's bday. Blooms are about to start opening. My husband and my dad are beekeepers; so, hopefully this plant will be a great addition for our bees to enjoy! Thanks for the information!😊🦋🐝
@@pollinatorgardenfun They are simply gorgeous in pots, and they overwinter well in zone 6a in Virginia. I've had mine in the pots for 3 years now and they are absolutely gorgeous. I enjoy moving the pots around to create different groupings. Wish I could send you a photo.
The species daylily 'Fulva' are easier to remove than the double flower species. Good luck with removing the daylilies. I also have a lot of wild violets and gave up on trying to remove them. It is impossible to do at least for me. Your gardens are lovely. Thanks for sharing.
I love the violets because they are a host plant for fritillaries, so they can stay. The daylilies, though. Ugh! If you don't get every last bit of root, they just come back.
It said to refresh every month … do you have to change out the sand? I have a birdbath that I’m going to convert. I have smaller rocks. Can I use pieces of tree limbs for the bees to land on?
I don't change out all the sand as often, but I do rinse it out well and refresh with the compost and salts. You can really be creative and use whatever you like for the landing perches!
What I did to fix my bird bath I made that wasn’t stable: got some wide PVC, cut the height I wanted it, painted it, and then put bar down inside it for even more stability. I have another that has taller wooden “stakes” inside but my sister was worried the wood would rot. I thought about possibly pouring concrete inside it, but honestly - no time right now since it’s a temp fix lol
That's on my list. I haven't found any locally, but I keep my eyes open whenever I visit a nursery. I've heard that the onion smell of them keeps fire ants away so you don't have to worry about them building mounds in your garden. I'd be keen to try it just for that!
I have never seen this in a nursery. I had to order some. It is forming bigger clumps, so I should be able to divide this fall to propagate. I need to put these in my lawn if they repel ants LOL!
@@pollinatorgardenfun I've heard they repel ants, but who really knows. I guess you can test it pretty easy by sticking a bulb into an ant nest and watching what happens over the next few days. :D
You are gonna love the clustered mountain mint and partridge pea!!! My partridge pea reseeds everywhere and I love it. I like to interplant with tomatoes for the buzz pollination. I am trying Spotted Bee Balm and Lupine this year too.
It is Cherokee sunset. Isn’t it beautiful? It very sparsely reseeds. I wish it did more, but it will give maybe 3 plants each year. I really baby any volunteers I find.
I have about 20 coleus in 10 different colors right now. Im in Florida and at this time they are stunning outdoors. Once they get a little bigger clip off about 6 inch cuttings and put them in a cup of water until roots grow and then plant. Nothing better than free Coleus. That pot is going to look amazing when it fills out.
The pots were gorgeous. I think my favorite was Campfire. I do have cuttings from them that are in my windowsill now that have already rooted. I am in upstate NY, so nothing is growing outside right now LOL!
I ended up trimming down all the iris foliage later in the season, so hopefully next year I won't have that issue. I guess it will depend on how wet of a spring we have. Lori
I've been wanting to move my liatris to the front of my beds, because I mistakenly put them back in the back when I started them, based off height size on the seed packs. Mine still bloom and all, but they kinda get lost at the back...
I have a spicebush for the spicebush swallowtails, but I don't have room for more trees.. My neighbors have magnolia and the walking path near my house has tulip poplars, so we do see a fair number of tigers.
@@pollinatorgardenfun I understand the feeling, but I love winter for resting and planning for spring! Also, it gives me more time to read. Plus, I'm hoping we get some snow. I live in east Tennessee, and we don't always get enough snow. So, I'm hoping for a winter wonderland soon...we will see.
I had hardy glads that actually came back for a few years, but the corms I bought this year aren’t. There are a few that are going to stay in the ground because they will be a pain to try to dig up because of where I put them. It will be a good experiment to see if they come back.
